


The First Stick For Your Nest

by Liara_90



Series: A Home of Sticks [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Bad Flirting, Canon Compliant, F/M, Heterosexuality, One Shot, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, School, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 06:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13405626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90
Summary: What was it like, in those bygone days, when Team STRQ were still just schoolmates in Beacon?A short moment between Taiyang and Raven, from one of those distant mornings.





	The First Stick For Your Nest

“ _Mother...fucking...stupid...”_

Taiyang felt his whole body tense up. The words weren’t directed at him - if they were, he’d have been halfway to Patch already - but the venemonous tone chilled his bones all the same. They were coming from the washroom, the door to which was thoughtlessly ajar, a room which had been occupied by one Raven Branwen for the better part of ten minutes.

Normally it was Summer’s job to make sure the Team was running smoothly, but she’d vanished before sunrise, off for yet another meeting with the Headmaster. Which left Tai alone with the Branwen twins.

A brave man would have asked what the hold-up in the bathroom was, seeing as Raven was bodily blocking access to the toilet. Taiyang Xiao Long liked to think of himself as a brave man.

But he also liked to think of himself as an _intelligent_ man, and he valued his well-being more than either of those self-images.

So Tai sat on his bunk, swallowed, and waited.

Qrow Branwen, who had watched Taiyang start-and-stop towards the bathroom about a dozen times by now, let out a derisive _snort_ and returned to his comics, lazily turning a page. He was still smarting over the whole ‘skirt-vs-kilt’ debacle, and the way Taiyang was oh-so-obviously intimidated by his sister brought Qrow some measure of schadenfreude.

“Hey _Raven_ , get your ass out here, Taiyang is getting impatient,” Qrow called out, eyes not drifting from _Amazing X-Ray #151._

Tai sputtered. “I didn’t say-” he said, trying to address both Branwens at once, before shutting up entirely as the door to the bathroom was slammed open.

Out of which strolled one Raven Branwen, quite clearly out of both patience and fucks to give. Long black hair cascaded down her back, kempt only by a quick combing, dark red eyes sweeping across the dorm with imperious aggression. Tai unthinkingly slid a half-inch back on his mattress as Raven crossed the distance between them, each step landing heavily on the floor.

Taiyang was holding his breath, though he didn’t realize it.

Because if he was being entirely honest… the Branwens scared him, a bit. They weren’t like other students, from nice homes in Vale, the products of reputable combat academies and respectable scholastic regimens. The twins were tight-lipped as to their origins, as they were about damn-near everything else. Tai’s first guess had been Vacuo, or even Menagerie. But the Branwens seemed wholly unfamiliar with just about every element of modern life, from Scrolls to syllabi to skirts, unlike literally any other students he knew.

  
Raven leaned forward, exhaling as she encroached, towering over Taiyang. She smelled like soil and sage.

He’d heard the rumor that they were bandit children, raised beyond the confines of civilization. Summer had instructed him not to put much weight in idle gossip, but even the Team Leader’s words didn’t fully assuage him. Tai had seen the Branwens fight, and they damn-well didn’t fight like students.

Raven’s breath blew blonde strands of hair across his eyes.

“Bathroom’s yours,” Raven declared. Her gaze was derisive, her words cool as ice.

Taiyang blinked, watching as Raven spun on her heel, haphazardly tossing books and papers into a backpack. They had another quiz this morning, for their Grimm studies course, which for some reason the Branwens never needed to study for.

  
It finally clicked in his head, as he was pulling himself to his feet, what the hold-up had been about. Because Raven Branwen was not the kind of woman who needed the washroom for many minutes on end. _Hell_ , it was a coin-toss whether she showered on any given day. But as she’d been leaning over him, well...

“Hey, uh, Raven,” Tai called out, causing both Branwens to glance in his direction. Tai swallowed. _Raven_ still sounded unfamiliar on his tongue, a name he dared use only sparingly. He forced himself not to flinch from her gaze. “Your uniform’s, uh, missing something,” he said, pointing to his own neck.

Raven darkened at that, her brow furrowing and her lips curling. The collar of her blouse was left overtly open, exposing the pale white skin of her throat. On the floor of the bathroom, limp like a dead snake, lay the ribbon the Beacon Uniform Code expected to be knotted around her neck.

A snort escaped her. “Who gives a shit?” Raven growled, returning her attention to her books. “Just that blonde bitch.”

“The one who gave you detention?” Qrow asked, his tone wry with amusement. “I think she’s kinda hot.”

“Don’t be gross.”

Taiyang took the lapse in her gaze to wander discreetly to the bathroom, retrieving the piece of lace. It puzzled him to no small degree that Raven seemed to view the ribbon as some kind of extraremnental technology. He’d seen her in the Emerald Forest, during their three-day Initiation trials, setting up tents and traps. She clearly knew her knots.

“...yeah but she’s like a _sexy_ forty,” Qrow was countering, as Taiyang reentered the conversation. “Right, Tai? Like I know she’s a hard-ass but Goodwitch is still…”

Taiyang allowed Qrow to ramble uninterrupted, because Raven’s crimson eyes had swiveled back to the fabric in his hands. She remained mute as Tai cautiously interposed himself before her, keeping his eyes _absolutely fucking locked_ on the expanse of Raven that was above her breasts but below her eyes.

“Gimme… one sec…” he murmured, either to Raven or his terrified subconscious, as he slid the ribbon around her collar. The two tips were held delicately in Tai’s fingertips, like the live wires of an armed bomb.

It was an attitude thing, he was pretty sure, as he willed the muscle memory to return. Neither Qrow nor Raven particularly cared what others thought of their appearances, and their casual outfits looked like they’d been sourced from the discount bins of second-hand shops. Qrow had accepted the demands of a uniform with an indifferent shrug (as he did most things), but the arbitrary imposition had rubbed Raven the wrong way. She hadn’t known how to daintily tie a bow, and she damn-well didn’t much care to learn. Team STRQ was already topping the leaderboard for Demerits, most of which were attributable to Raven’s general disregard of any circumscription of her liberty, attire included.

With a final _tug_ Tai completed the bow, rendering Raven compliant with the Uniform Code. _Well_ \- mostly. Her skirt was too short and her tights were already torn, but Taiyang figured he’d helped enough for one day.

He felt Raven’s breath on his skin, that same earthy scent as before. He breathed through his nose.

“... _Thanks_ ,” Raven finally muttered, awkwardly but not insincerely.

Tai flashed her his sunniest of smiles. “Happy to help,” he promised, daring to take just a half-step closer.

For a long second, the two just stared at each other, red eyes and blue.

And then Raven smirked. “Is that your Scroll in your pocket,” she began, “or are you just happy to see me?”

Taiyang felt his windpipe tighten. “Well, uh, heh, funny-”

A faint _swoosh_ interrupted his sputtering.

Glancing down towards his shoes, his eyes immediately spotted the butterfly knife Raven had just flicked, the tip now resting a half-inch from his bladder. Where she’d hidden it he hadn’t the faintest clue. A ray of sunlight caught the blade for a split-second, before Raven flicked her wrist again, the weapon vanishing in her hand.

She breezed past the boy while he was still standing slack-jawed, grabbing her backpack and slipping wordlessly out the door. Tai waited a good ten seconds for his breathing to return to normal.

“ _Yep_ , Raven’s a fun one,” Qrow declared, tossing the comic he’d borrowed back to Tai’s bed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared and aroused in my life,” Tai stated, once he’d rediscovered his ability to speak.

Qrow punched him on the shoulder - _hard_ \- but there really wasn’t much menace to the blow. “C’mon, blondie,” he said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his blazer. “Don’t want to be late for class.”

“...Right...” Taiyang greed, following his bunkmate out the door.

  
“... _Someone’s_ got to keep Raven out of trouble.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write more Raven, and this kinda… came out of nowhere, I guess. Trying to imagine the original Taiyang/Raven dynamic is a fascinating challenge. How does the guy who's the _Ur-Dad_ end up with the Bandit Queen? How did Raven possibly survive at Beacon? Food for thought, I guess.
> 
> (I should probably make a note that I don't exactly think the relationship depicted would be an entirely healthy one. But if canon is anything to go by, Raven is one of the most guarded and dangerous characters in all of Remnant.)
> 
> So I've been in a bit of writing funk lately (not helped by the fact that my keyboard is kinda dying - turns out the "a", "Shift" and "CTRL" keys are actually pretty important…), but perhaps [I can write my way out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnRH-wWF6LY), as the saying goes. As always, feel free to contact me on [Tumblr](http://www.pvoberstein.tumblr.com/) or [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/pvoberstein/), where I'm always up for a good chat about… anything.
> 
> Constructive feedback is always welcome. Telling me what I did wrong is the only way I'll get better. A single comment can light up my day.


End file.
